China sends cultural heritage guardian into orbit

At 12 am on Monday, China's first tailor-made remote sensing satellite for cultural heritage monitoring, successfully lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu province and entered its designated orbit.

The Wenwu-01 remote-sensing satellite, jointly developed by the National Cultural Heritage Administration and Chang Guang Satellite Technology, is capable of efficiently collecting spatial data on cultural heritage resources, creating three-dimensional models, and performing dynamic comparisons, thanks to its high-precision optical remote sensing payload and multispectral imaging channels.

"Wenwu" means cultural heritage, a name that reflects the satellite's mission to safeguard China's rich historical legacy.

After the launch, the satellite will form a network with more than 130 other satellites of the "Jilin-1" satellite constellation. With the large-scale networking advantages, it will continuously provide vast amounts of accurate and time-sequenced remote sensing data, greatly strengthening the country's capacity for precise, frequent, routine and comprehensive monitoring of cultural heritage sites at all levels.

Looking ahead, the National Cultural Heritage Administration will continue to promote the deep integration of advanced technologies with cultural heritage protection. It will improve the research and development of key technologies and promote the integrated application of satellite remote sensing, drone patrols, internet of things sensing, and artificial intelligence analysis in critical areas such as cultural heritage law enforcement and supervision, resource surveys, archaeological investigations, planning and management, disease monitoring, and protective restoration.

A technological system for cultural heritage monitoring featuring space-air-ground coordination will be gradually established, providing solid scientific and technological support for the high-quality development of the cultural heritage sector in China, according to the administration.